Stage 4: mountain, 218.5 km, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne - Annonay Davézieux
After that astonishing ride in the time trial it's the first chance for the GC contenders to eat into Phinneys advantage. So in first line Madrazo, Tenorio and Taaramäe the men to worry about for Phinney on the ride uptop the Col du Galibier. But surely we might see some earlier action by minor favourites on the mysterious names of Col de la Madeleine, Col de la Croix-de-Fer or Col du Télégraphe.
This can be well called the queens stag; not only looking at the various HC climbs, but also at the classics length of 246.5 km. Let the madness begin:
Pretty soon a breakaway group of 12 guys settles up for a long day out, without any resistance of the break:
Sirironnachai Kulppi Curfs Simon Lund Wilman Manfredi Gougeard Medvedev Manfred Fenn Zordan
Overall a strange composition of pure climbers, pure puncheurs and even sprinters and cobblers. The differences within this group surely have to become really big once some climbs are started.
RBC with a calm chase in behind. The first points on a totally misplaced category 3 KOM sprint at the Cote de Saint-Pierre-d'Allevard go to Wilman.
Cat.3
Wilman
6
Lund
4
Manfredi
2
We're now at 150 kilometer to go, and since the beginning of the race the group is held between 3 and 4 minutes. Surely stuff will change when we hit up the first slopes of the Madeleine in a couple of minutes.
And yep: it all changes already:
The break is drastically sorting out the weaker climbers such as
Fenn Lund Kulppi Gougeard Sirironnachai
Even the trio of...
Zordan Manfred Wilman
...already in trouble.
Meanwhile the peloton reduced the advantage to the top of the break to 1'45, burning Young on the way though. Now it's Pichon and Jensen in the chase.
The first 5 riders are caught, when we see some moves with 10 kilometers to the summit. It is...
... Ruijgh on the attack, and shortly behind him we also see Sosnitskiy putting in an effort. Destribois also goes after him and teams up a chase with the ukrainian, while Ruijgh qwuickly reached the top group. There Zordan and Manfred are finally cooked, but also Wilman and Manfredi struggeling.
In the following the remaining riders fight out the points at the Madeleine. First uptop is...
... Ruijgh, slightly ahead of Medvedev.
Cat.HC
Ruijgh
20
Medvedev
14
Simon
12
Curfs
10
Sosnitskiy
8
Destribois
6
Wilman
5
Manfredi
4
Manfred
3
Zordan
1
Riders all over the place now. Moazemi also made a move, but then stayed at the backwheel of Zordan. Jensen now gone in the pack; instead Bonnin is teaming up with Pichon in the chase.
Now down the descent we have a better look at the gaps with 95 kilometers to go still:
Inspired by the names of their leaders on the roads some other teams no contribute to the chase, dropping Pichon in this process though:
They decently eat into the advantage of the group ahead of them that merged at the early slopes of the Croix-de-la-Fer. Giogieri and Herrada are doing all the work now.
When they finally catch the likes of Wilman, Manfredi and Manfred there is the following race situation with 82 kilometers to go (9 until the summit):
And Giogieri is really doing a fantastic job of thinning out the peloton, only 38 riders inside with 4 kilometers until the summit in the tailwind. But soon the albanian is cooked as well, so that the pace decreases again. The pace is still high enough though to drop the likes of Teklehaimanot or Pantano Gómez.
At the front the second HC sprint is uncontested, Ruijgh takes it again. The couple has over 5 minutes of an advantage on the next riders already!
Grmay helps Giogieri a little on the descent. But now again, Phinney is on his own and nobody really wants to help him as all other pullers are dead and gone. So it is really Solis that pulls on the flat connection between Croix-de-la-Fer & Telegraphe.
But now we suddenly have a race going on, cause there is an attack with 28 to go:
A big move by Velits as he streams past the breakaway group! Madrazo is the guy that immediately pull out a chase for the peloton, helping Phinney this way instead of attacking him. And don't forget, they are still 5 minutes behind our two leaders and 25 kilometers to race.
Solis is the man that catches Velits...
...but then he goes again and you see that this is a big time move, cause the big names are going after this in the snowy rain. A five man chase is behind him, and we have still 22.5 kilometers on this cold and windy day. The five men are
Madrazo Tenorio Phinney Taaramäe Kritskiy
with Denifl and Cattaneo and then Wellens shortly behind.
Further up the road...
... Ruijgh beats Medvedev for the Cat.1 Telegraphe points, he is still 4 minutes ahead of Velits. But then again, we still await the whole Galibier, which is another near to 20 kilometers of climbing.
Cat.1
Ruijgh
16
Medvedev
12
Velits
10
Madrazo
8
Taaramäe
6
Kritskiy
4
Tenorio
2
Denifl joins the group of 5 on the easier section, while Cattaneo can't follow him there. With 12.5 kilometers to go an incredible Rob Ruijgh hits the first steep parts of the final climb of the day, now it's pure pain awaiting for him. The current race situation:
Come on Rob! Velits though still gaining on the six, that now caught and dropped Medvedev.
He still got 2 minutes on the Slovak and another one on the leaders group. In behind we have some guys hugely cracking, in first line Cattaneo but also Keizer.
5 kilometers and 1'30...go go go! For some reasons the men with Phinney all working together on a low level and are not trying anything. Though it's without doubt that the 8 guys ahead now are the only ones able to compete for the overall at the end of the tour.
3 kilometers!
You can still do it. Just head down full gas Rob. Kritskiy, Madrazo and Tenorio swap chasing duties, but they are not going hard enough. Velits in no mans land, but that should be exactly where he likes to be. A minute and a half ahead of the group and still in contension for a victory.
Flamme Rouge!
It's the steepest part of the climb now. Velits tries his best and goes hard, so that he...
...still has no chance of taking the Dutchman. Rob Ruijgh takes one of the most epic solo victories of this season. He did do a brilliant job to work with his stunning form and take the big win up the Galibier. What a great ride that was perfect in terms of both tactics, power and passion. Superb!
Behind him it's a great second by...
... Velits, who gains over a minute on the completely exhaustet chasers. They...
...'ll only have one happy guy out of these, and it's Phinney for keeping yellow. They at least dropped Denifl a little, but still it's one missed opportunity to put time into the yellow jersey and they lost worthful seconds to Velits. At least we can be sure now that it's one of the big 7 winning this tour. Cause the next guy to come in is...
... Wellens already 5 minutes down. Then a strong Faiers, Brambilla, Cattaneo and a brave Medvedev, before...
...the "pack" comes in. A lot of disappointed names inside there, such as Keizer and Berhane.
I'm sorry for the focus on today's winner, but this ride just has to be recognized. So we'll close this epic stage out with the winners ceremony for Rob Ruijgh.